I am still humbled at the power of the Internet. Thank you to everyone for such wonderful resources. I can add only one resource that none has mentioned as of yet: http://www.angelfire.com/journal/kwill/ In addition to being the Webmaster for Planeteverquest (an online EQ community site), Kwill is also an academic studying the game. There are four pieces on the site, one of which was presented at one of the Cybercultures Conferences. Federico ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dmitri Williams" <dcwillia@umich.edu> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2003 12:26 PM Subject: [Air-l] MMRPG cites, study (Re: Greetings and Games)
Federico-
In addition to the good cites Lisbeth suggested, there is a study out of Simon Fraser U (which seems to have a good number of MA students interested and working on games in general) which has interesting results: http://www.sfu.ca/media-lab/onlinegaming/
You should also go straight out and buy "Avatars Offline," a low-budget, but thoughtful DVD documentary on MMRPG players. My undergraduates really enjoyed viewing and it was great as a starting point for effects, culture and policy discussions. It's at www.avatarsoffline.com
I'd also recommend reviewing the literature on MUDs and MOOs. There is a fair amount of material on them, even beyond Sherry Turkle's fascinating work in "Life on the Screen."
And if you're going to be working in this area, you should subscribe to the digiplay list at www.topica.com
For myself, I have a two-wave panel study of Asheron's Call 2 that will launch within the month (knock wood, and committee members willing), and should provide causal data, mostly about social networks, but some on general effects as well. A second study of The Sims Online is in negotiation.
As a sidenote, I have a draft of my survey instrument ready and in place at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dcwillia/surveys/SurveyIntro.html
If anyone is interested enough in the effects of online games over time, I'd love to get feedback on my survey instrument. I'm also open to adding a question or two (within reason), so if anyone is interested in collaborating, write me off-list.
Cheers,
Dmitri **************** Dmitri Williams Ph.D. Candidate University of Michigan Department of Communication Studies dcwillia@umich.edu http://www.umich.edu/~dcwillia
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